A
Tougher Life for Spanish Crooks?:
Spain is backing a EU proposal to end the €500 note. This is hardly
surprising as the only people who use them are those engaged in some
sort of skullduggery and need to pack their suitcases and briefcases
with as little paper as possible. It's taken a while for this measure
to be even proposed, never mind implemented. But that's the EU for
you.
Great
Spanish Beaches: The Ses Illetes beach, on the island of
Formentera, in the Balearics, has been voted Europe's best by
TripAdvisor folk. So, not last year's favourite, that of Cies Island
off our coast. Worse, the latter doesn't even figure in someone's
view of the 50 best beaches in the world. The
only consolation, for me at least, is that I've had the pleasure of
being on the beach voted No. 1. Totally alone. Except for the vicious
sand flies which I guess we can assume no longer inhabit it.
Syria: You'd
have to be a true optimist – or a cretin – to say things are
going well here. Russia seems to be achieving its objectives of either saving the Assad regime and or taking us all to the brink of
war, or at least to NATO impotence in the country. And indeed elsewhere. One
can only hope it's helping to bankrupt Putin's Russia. Meanwhile, one
has to laugh – and almost admire – the quantity and quality of
the propaganda spewing from Moscow's RT News channel. Such is the
obsession with Western lies and Turkey's turpitude, my guess is that
Putin is trying to provoke the latter into some sort of armed action
in Syria. Which now looks perilously close. Russia will be obliged to
react, of course. Just as it was in Ukraine. Hey, ho.
Which reminds me . . .
The Pregnant Widow
Syndrome: This is what you leave behind when you repress
rebellions without too much of a thought to the longer term
consequences. Think Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and – of course –
Syria. On the latter, a commentator in The Times has said that it was
fear of this syndrome which led Obama to stay out of the country and
leave the field to the locals and to Russia. And look where that's
got us.
Modern English:
Has the old word 'audition' now been replaced by 'casting'? I assume
this is an Americanism. It's certainly been incorporated into
Spanish, as el casting. I've always associated it with
couches.
The
Internet: This has come
in for some critical comment lately. A piqued Stephen Fry has said
that social media has
become: A stalking ground for
the sanctimoniously self-righteous. And
someone else has noted about the internet that: Too
often it’s a hate-filled echo chamber for the like-minded.
Indeed.
Finally . . . A joke?: RT News describes itself as Russia’s flagship, award-winning English-language channel. One wonders who exactly was giving out the goodies.
Finally . . . A joke?: RT News describes itself as Russia’s flagship, award-winning English-language channel. One wonders who exactly was giving out the goodies.
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